In his distorted wits he fancied that he was in some manner changing, that he was becoming another man; worse than that, it seemed to him that he was no longer human, that he was sinking, all in a moment, to the level of some dreadful beast.
Later on in that same evening Ellis met young Haight coming out of one of the theatres, and told him a story that Haight did not believe.

Ellis was very pale, and he seemed to young Haight to be trying to keep down some tremendous excitement.
"If he was drunk," said Ellis, "it was the strangest drunk I ever saw.
He came back into the room on all fours--not on his hands and knees, you understand, but running along the floor upon the palms of his hands and his toes--and he pushed the door of the room open with his head, nuzzling at the crack like any dog.

Oh, it was horrible.

_I_ don't know what's the matter with Van.

You should have seen him; his head was hanging way down, and swinging from side to side as he came along; it shook all his hair over his eyes.